Nasdaq-Listed Marathon Begins Bitcoin Mining Operations, Stock Up 32%

Traditional stock investors have just gotten another avenue for indirect exposure to the bitcoin market. A Nasdaq exchange listed former patent management company, Marathon, has changed its focus to ASIC mining and today started producing bitcoin.

Marathon Mining

Marathon Patent Group bitcoin mining facility in Quebec

Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:MARA), today announced that it has commenced bitcoin mining at a new facility in Quebec, Canada. Investors seems to greatly approve of this development as the stock is up 32% as of the time of writing a couple of hours after market open.

Marathon revealed that it had purchased 1,400 Antminer S9 miners from Bitmain and had leased 26,700 square feet of data center space in Quebec. The operations are expected to utilize approximately 2.0 MW and deliver approximately 19 Ph/s of ASIC mining capacity. The company is seeking to add up to an additional 3.9 MW of power. If completed, this is expected to provide capacity for up to 2,800 additional Antminer S-9s that if acquired, could be located at the same facility.

Marathon also explains to investors that while the Antminer S9s are presently mining bitcoin (BTC), they are able to switch to other digital assets/cryptocurrency using the SHA256 algorithm (such as bitcoin cash BCH) if needed.

From Patent Mining to Bitcoin Mining

Marathon Patent Group bitcoin mining facility in Quebec

Marathon was previously an patent licensing and commercialization company which acquired and managed intellectual property rights from a variety of sources, including large and small corporations, universities and other patent owners. Now the company is said to be focused on mining digital assets with specialized computer equipment and plans to expand its activities to mine new digital assets.

Merrick Okamoto, Marathon’s Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated, “Today’s announcement represents a milestone for the Company. I’d like to thank everyone that worked so hard to make this day a reality for our shareholders.”

The province of Quebec, Canada has become a magnet for bitcoin miners from all over the world thanks to cheap hydroelectric power and cold climate.

Are we expected to see many more public companies enter the bitcoin mining market? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Do you like to research and read about Bitcoin technology? Check out Bitcoin.com’s Wiki page for an in-depth look at Bitcoin’s innovative technology and interesting history.

Avi Mizrahi is an economist and entrepreneur who has been covering Bitcoin as a journalist since 2013. He has spoken about the promise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at numerous financial conferences around the world, from London to Hong-Kong.

The Bitcoin.com Wallet: Available on all platforms

Download the Bitcoin.com Wallet right to your device for easy and secure access to your bitcoins. Perfect for beginners, the Bitcoin.com Wallet makes using and holding bitcoins easy. No logins required.

Most Popular

Roger That!

Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork Update: Is It Over? (And a Special Message to Calvin Ayre). Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin.com, sits down with Daniel Kelman to discuss what happened during the Nov. 15 Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork.

Listen to The Bitcoin.com Podcast Network

Latest Podcasts

Latest Comments

Nikola Atanasov

Please stop all wars! Every war brings only huge losses! Check out what's on the Cryptomarket...